Metropark station is an intermodal transportation hub on the Northeast Corridor in the Iselin section of Woodbridge Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey that is located 24.6 miles southwest of New York Penn Station. It is owned and operated by

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

and serves

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

and

Northeast Corridor Line The Northeast Corridor Line is a commuter rail service operated by NJ Transit between the Trenton Transit Center and New York Penn Station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in the United States. The service is the successor to Pennsylvania Railroad ...

runs peak period 'loop' buses in coordination with train schedules. The station is near the interchange of Route 27 and

Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jerse ...

near exits 131 and 132. and has a multi-story parking facility that is open at all times. The station, built by the

New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transporta ...

(NJDOT) and the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States a ...

, opened on November 14, 1971, as Garden State Metropark. It was built as a suburban

park-and-ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system (rap ...

stop for the then-new high-speed rail '' Metroliners''.

History

Amtrak GG1 at Metropark station, January 1976

Metropark was one of two

infill station An infill station (sometimes in-fill station) is a train station built on an existing passenger rail, rapid transit, or light rail line to address demand in a location between existing stations. Such stations take advantage of existing train serv ...

s proposed in the 1960s for use by the new '' Metroliners'', the other being

Capital Beltway The Capital Beltway is a Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area that surrounds Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. It is the basis of the phrase " inside ...

in Lanham, Maryland, just outside

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

The two stations were originally named Capital Beltway Metropark and Garden State Metropark; these were shortened to Capital Beltway and Metropark. Both were conceived as public-private partnerships. Under a plan put forward in late 1968 by the

(NJDOT) the state would contribute $648,000 toward the cost of the station, then estimated at $1.4 million.

service to Metropark began on November 14, 1971. The station's cost had increased to $2.6 million, shared by NJDOT and the

. It had two high-level platforms and had 820 parking spaces. It was next to the

to allow easy access by automobile; a large

business park A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typicall ...

– "the first

Edge City ''Edge city'' is a term that originated in the United States for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional downtown or central business district, in what had previously been a suburban residential or rura ...

in the world to grow from a parking lot" – soon grew near the station. Commuter trains continued to use Iselin station, half a mile east. The station was renamed Harrison A. Williams Metropark Station in 1979, in recognition of US Senator Williams' (D-NJ) support for its construction. However, the name was removed from the station after his 1980 conviction for bribery and conspiracy in the

Abscam Abscam (sometimes written ABSCAM) was an FBI sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members of the United States Congress, among others, for bribery and corruption. The two-year investigation init ...

scandal.

Renovation

In January 2007, NJ Transit announced a nearly $30 million renovation plan for the station, to be completed by 2010. Reconstruction was completed by Anselmi & DeCicco, Inc. of Maplewood, NJ in summer 2009, and cost $47 million. Climate-controlled shelters and LCD train information systems were installed, platforms were extended to accommodate 12-car trains, canopies were lengthened and the station building was enlarged as part of the project. New signage was also installed; all of the new signs refer to the station as "Metropark Station".

Ridership

Since 2001, Metropark has been the busiest New Jersey Transit station apart from the city terminals. Many commuters from the South Shore of Staten Island utilize the station to commute to Manhattan. Along with Princeton Junction in 2006, Metropark was the first non-terminal station to have over 7,000 weekday boardings.

Layout and services

NJT 4603 at Metropark station, November 2008

The station is served by

NJ Transit Rail Operations NJ Transit Rail Operations is the rail division of NJ Transit. It operates commuter rail service in New Jersey, with most service centered on transportation to and from New York City, Hoboken, and Newark. NJ Transit also operates rail service ...

. The station has two high-level

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platform ...

s flanking the four tracks of the Northeast Corridor.

's long-haul services and most Keystone Service trains that utilize the Northeast Corridor bypass the station via the inner tracks, as do some NJ Transit express trains. Until 2005, the eastbound also stopped at Metropark. Amtrak trains skip most other stations between Trenton and

Newark Penn Station Pennsylvania Station (also known as Newark Penn Station) is an intermodal passenger station in Newark, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, Newark Penn Station is served by multiple rail and bus carriers, ...

, but many trains stop at Metropark despite having to switch to the outside (local) tracks to do so. Pairs of 45-mph crossovers (interlockings MENLO and ISELIN) just east and west of the station were added about 1986 to make this easier. Five peak-hour "Metropark Loop" routes, operated by NJ Transit as bus routes 801–805, connect the station to the surrounding office parks and residential areas.

References

External links

Metropark (USA RailGuide – TrainWeb)

Station from Google Maps Street View
{{New Jersey Transit Bus Operations NJ Transit Rail Operations stations NJ Transit bus stations Amtrak stations in New Jersey Stations on the Northeast Corridor Railway stations in Middlesex County, New Jersey Woodbridge Township, New Jersey Railway stations in the United States opened in 1971